1. Important Deadlines Approaching
2. SDMS Educational Foundation Scholarships Awarded
3. SDMS Offers New Vascular Publication
4. Call for Interesting Cases and Puzzlers (Challenging Cases)
5. Certification News
6. Writer's Block?
7. News & Notes
8. Important Dates

Regional Director

The deadline for submitting a candidate name(s) for the position of Regional Director is JANUARY 16. Regional Director positions for Regions 1, 5, and 6 will be included in the 2004 SDMS elections. Regional Directors serve on the SDMS Board of Directors and have a three-year term of office. Any SDMS member may submit the name(s) of a candidate for any Regional Director position; however, candidates who stand for election as a Regional Director must reside in one of the states included within the Region. States included within the Regions that will be included in the upcoming elections are:

Region 1: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington

Region 5: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia

Region 6: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia

Nominating forms were included in the October/November/December issue of News Wave and are available online at: http://www.sdms.org/pdf/2004nominate.pdf. Mail or FAX your nomination to the SDMS headquarters (214-473-8563) - Attention: Don Haydon. Nominations must include the name of the SDMS member who you are nominating, and your SDMS membership number. All nominations must be received by the close of business on Friday, January 16.

Nominating Committee

The deadline for submitting a candidate name(s) for service on the SDMS Nominating Committee is FEBRUARY 6. There are 4 positions for the Nominating Committee that will be included in the SDMS 2004 elections. The Nominating Committee is chaired by the Society's President-Elect. Committee members serve a two-year term. The Nominating Committee is responsible for putting together the candidate slate for SDMS elections. Any SDMS member in good standing may stand for election as a member of the Nominating Committee.

Nominating forms were included in the October/November/December issue of News Wave and are available online at: http://www.sdms.org/pdf/2004nominate.pdf.

Mail or FAX your nomination to the SDMS headquarters (214-473-8563) - Attention: Don Haydon. Nominations must include the name of the SDMS member who you are nominating, and your SDMS membership number. All nominations must be received by the close of business on Friday, February 6.

Joan P. Baker Pioneer Award

The Joan P. Baker Pioneer Award honors a sonographer who has made a unique and outstanding contribution to the sonography profession. The award is given when a sonographer's focused contribution has innovated new direction in ultrasound. Selection will be based upon contributions, which have advanced or changed the face of sonography and increased the knowledge and/or welfare of sonographers.

Award Criteria

1. The award is presented not as an annual event but only when there is documentation a sonographer has made a focused contribution, which has innovated new direction in ultrasound.
2. The sonographer must be a member of the SDMS for at least one year.
3. The sonographer must be ARDMS registered.

Nominating forms were included in the October/November/December issue of News Wave and are available online at: http://www.sdms.org/pdf/2004nominate.pdf.

Mail or FAX your nomination to the SDMS headquarters (214-473-8563) - Attention: Sandra Riggins. Nominations must include the name of the SDMS member who you are nominating, and your SDMS membership number. All nominations must be received by the close of business on Monday, February 2.

All nominees will be sent the Joan P. Baker Pioneer Award application to completed.

Fellow Nominations

Elevation to Fellow status is the highest member honor bestowed by SDMS. Fellows are chosen based on contribution to the profession and to the Society.

Who is eligible for Fellow nomination?
All Active SDMS members are eligible for Fellow nomination.

Note: The Active membership category becomes effective on January 1, 2004 as part of the approved SDMS Bylaw revisions and includes the previous membership categories: Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, Advanced Practice Sonographer®, and Fellow.

For details on Fellow nominations and a nominations form, go to: http://www.sdms.org/membership/fellowroster.asp.

The SDMS Educational Foundation awards scholarships to students attending CAAHEP-accredited programs three times each year: March 30, July 31 and November 30. These scholarships are funded through your donations to the Foundation and from the sale of the Foundation's products. The following is a list of scholarship recipients for the November deadline:

Please join us in congratulating all these scholarship recipients and in wishing them fulfilling and successful careers!

For information about the SDMS Educational Foundation Scholarships, visit:

SDMS is pleased to announce the arrival of a new publication, Physiologic Testing Techniques and Interpretation. This is a "must read" for anyone involved with the noninvasive assessment of vascular disorders. When ordered through SDMS, members receive the benefit of a 10% discount off the retail price. For details, visit:

Call for Interesting Cases

Join the faculty of the 2004 SDMS Annual Conference by submitting a case study for consideration. A case study is an interesting or uncommon presentation of a case OR a classic presentation of an uncommon condition. If your case is selected, you will be invited to present it to the conference attendees on Friday, October 1. Each case presenter will receive an honorarium of $50.

For more information, visit:

  http://www.sdms.org/pdf/2004cases.pdf

Call for Puzzlers (Challenging Cases)

What is it?
At the 2004 Annual Conference, sonographers will once again attempt to ‘Puzzle the Pros’ with case presentations of unusual pathology. Experts in several specialty areas will be put to the test to solve puzzling cases while providing a learning opportunity for all attendees. They may even call on audience members as their life-line!

We need your help. Please send us your unusual but real cases for consideration. If your case is selected, you will be invited to present it to the Pros on Saturday, October 2, 2004. Each case presenter will receive an honorarium of $50.

For more information, visit:

  http://www.sdms.org/pdf/2004cases.pdf

ARDMS TO REQUIRE APPLICANTS TO SUBMIT CLINICAL VERIFICATION FORM

Starting Jan. 1, 2005, all applicants (first-time applicants and reapplicants) will be required to submit an ARDMS clinical verification form with their application materials. The form must be completed, dated and signed by an ARDMS-registered sonographer/vascular technologist in the applied-for specialty area promptly upon completion of the clinical experience. The clinical verification form will be valid for one year following the date of signature. An applicant for ARDMS examinations must meet all of the requirements listed on the clinical verification form and must fill out a separate form for each exam he/she is applying to take.

Breast specialty credential applicants:
Starting July 5, 2004, all breast-specialty applicants will be required to submit an ARDMS clinical verification form with their application materials. The form must be completed and signed by an ARDMS-registered sonographer/vascular technologist or supervising physician.

Credential seekers should have performed at least 800 breast-ultrasound cases, with at least 400 being hands-on, and must have a minimum of six months of full-time clinical experience. An applicant for ARDMS examinations must meet all of the requirements listed on the clinical verification form and must fill out a separate form for each exam he/she is applying to take. The form will be valid for one year following the date of signature.

Believe it or not, writer's block is not uncommon, particularly to those who have never written a JDMS article of case study. Many times an idea for a topic is born, but getting it from brain to paper seems almost impossible. At other times, just deciding on a topic can be daunting. Luckily for sonographers, the JDMS, its editor, and editorial board are experienced in helping new authors realize their potential and mentor those less experienced through the publication process.

Not long ago, a member who only lacked the publication requirement for Advanced Practice Sonographer® membership wrote to Jean Spitz, JDMS Editor, about her difficulty. As is typical, Ms. Spitz was indeed helpful and offered this response:

Often it is much easier for sonographers in tertiary and research settings to find a topic but many, many interesting papers and case studies come from primary care settings. Think about what you as a sonographer would like to know more about -- or what you need to know more about to answer patient's questions about various pathologies. A literature review on one of those topics doesn't involve an actual case, just review of the latest medical journal literature which is available on the internet at http://www.pubmed.gov or in local medical libraries. You know as a sonographer you are probably seen by your patients and family as an expert on everything health-related (if only there was an easily available journal article on that question) and there are preventive strategies and emerging topics that we all need to know more about --- sonographers are focused narrowly on sonography but there are interesting broader topics that our readers would find interesting as well. Here are some samples of papers actually published or that could be found interesting...

• Differential causes and treatment of leg pain (if it's not DVT what is it?)
• New research on alcohol in pregnancy and FAS -- interesting discussion on PBS lately
• Stem cell research
• What's new in genetic counseling
• Causes and treatment of incontinence in women (3D ultrasound may have a role here)
• Interacting with angry and abusive patients
• Detection of lymphadenopathy with sonography --- characteristics of normal and abnormal lymph nodes
• PET/CT and MRI/Angiography --- what are the new emerging imaging modalities and their primary uses now
• The impact of imaging on high health care costs

Did you see the article on Ectopic Pregnancy (JDMS Sep/Oct 2002) --- a new look. It was an excellent current review -- we don't want regurgitation of textbook information on common pathologies but there is a lot of new literature on various things that can be searched and summarized. Sometimes just going to a medical library and skimming through some major journals will generate ideas.

As you can see, you are not alone in this process and the JDMS and its staff are very helpful. The JDMS offers you a unique learning experience, one that will benefit you professionally as well as personally. For more information about publishing in the JDMS, please visit the SDMS website at:

The News & Notes column includes links to web-based news articles of interest to sonographers. To submit articles, send the URL to webmaster@sdms.org